Floor receptacle mount



Jlme 15 1955 A. w. VLEERICK ETAL 3,189,852

FLOOR RECEPTACLE MOUNT 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Dec. 3, 1962 fa far June15 1965 A. w. vLEl-:RlcK ETAL 3,189,862

FLOOR RECEPTACLE MOUNT 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed Dec. 5, 1962 United StatesPatent O 3,189,862 FLOR RECEPTACLE MOUNT Albert W. Vleerick, Downey, andDana S. Longenecker, Arcadia, Calif., assiguors 'to C. W. Cole & Co.,Inc., El Monte, Calif., a corporation of 'California Filed Dec. 3, 1962,Ser. No. 241,818 Claims. (Cl. 3l39-34) This invention relates toelectrical lioor mounts and more particularly to an electricalreceptacle mounting unit in which the mount for the receptacle ispivotally supported so that by rotating the mount into an up positionthe receptacie can be exposed for use above the floor and by rotatingthe mount into a down position the receptacle can be concealed within arecess provided in the iloor.

lt is common practice to provide electrical receptacles or outlets inone or more convenient locations on the tioor of a room to enable powerto be supplied for various types of electrical equipment such as used inschool rooms, oii'lces, and the like. When these electrical receptaclesare permanently installed above the floor, they create a problem if theequipment requiring the power is rearranged in the room or no longerbeing used. Therefore, in some instances, it has been the practice toprovide recesses or openings in the floor in which the electricalreceptacles can be mounted. By providing a flush plate or cover whichcan be placed over the recess, the receptacle can be exposed for use byremoving the plate, and, when no longer needed, concealed by replacingthe plate over the recess. The ditculties presented by this approach tothe problem is that the electrical receptacle, being submerged in theiioor, is cumbersome to use, and, furthermore, the removal of the flushplate leaves an opening in the floor which is not pleasing inappearance. Furthermore, when the flush plate is removable it must bestored in readiness for when the receptacle is no longer required.

Accordingly, one of the objects of the present invention is to providean electrical receptacle which is pivotally mounted such that it canquickly and readily be made available for use above the floor whenneeded, or can, just as readily, be rotated such that it is concealed inthe floor, with the opening in the floor covered to as to present apleasing and attractive appearance.

Another object of this invention is to provide a rotatable mount for anelectrical receptacle which mount is supported over a recess provided ina floor such that the mount can be readily flipped over and latched whenthe receptacle is not in use, and thereby provide a protecting coverover the recess which is flush with the iloor.

Another object of this invention is to provide a sturdy construction fora simply designed rotatably mounted iloor receptacle, which constructionis pleasing in appearance both when the electrical receptacle is exposedfor use and when it is concealed in the floor. Another object of thisinvention is to provide a simple arrangement for limiting the directionof movement of a rotatable mount for an electrical receptacle to preventthe lead wires from becoming entangled and worn due to repeatedrepositioning of the mount in its support.

The above and further objects and purposes of this invention will beapparent from the detailed description hereinafter :apppearing whentaken in conjunction with the appended drawings forming a part thereofand showing a preferred embodiment of the invention and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electrical receptacle mounting unitpositioned on an outlet box;

FIG. 2 is a partial top plan view of the mounting unit shown in FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is a detail showing the receptacle secured to the mount;

FIG. 4 is a detail showing how the mounting ring is secured within thehousing;

FIG. 5 is a detail of the mounting unit taken along the line 5-5 of FIG.2;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a portion of the receptacle mountingunit showing the details of the latching mechanism for locking the mountin position in the mounting ring;

FIG. 7 is a side view of the mounting unit taken along the line 7-7 inFIG. 1, showing the unit installed with the outlet box positioned in arecess provided in a iloor;

FIG. 8 is a detail showing how the housing or casing for the mountingunit is installed on the outlet box provided in the recess in the oor;

FIG. 9 is `a partly cross-sectional view of the receptacle mounting unitshowing the electrical receptacle in position for use, and showing indotted lines how the receptacle mount can be pivoted on its support forconcealment of the receptacle in the recess of the iloor;

FIG. l0 is a view similar to that in Fig. 9 showing the mount positionedsuch that the electrical receptacle is concealed in the licor; and

FIG. 1l is a view of a portion of the mount showing how its rotationalmovement within the mounting ring is limited.

Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of anelectrical receptacle mounting unit 10 positioned on an outlet box 11.The mounting unit 10 includes an outer circular casing or housing 20, amounting ring 21 which is concentrically positioned and secured withinthe circular housing 20, and a disc-shaped mount or platform 29 which ispivotally supported within mounting ring 21. Secured on the surface ofmount 29 is an electrical receptacle 19. Receptacle 19 is provided witha pair of slots 60 for entrance of the blades of an attachment plug 61,as shown in FIG. 7, for example. As will be explained in the ensuingdescription, the mount 29 is rotatable within mounting ring 21 such thatreceptacle 19 is either in an upright position, as shown in FIG. l, orina down position in which it extends into a circular opening provided inthe upper surface 11a of outlet box 11. The outlet box 11 is providedwith tabs 12a and 12b which aid in maintaining the box in position wheninstalled in a iloor. An opening in the side wall of box 111 has aconduit 16 extending therethrough which carries lead wires 17 and 18(FIG. 2) from the electrical wiring source to receptacle 19.

Reference will next be made to FIGS. 2*6 to describe the details ofconstruction of the iloor receptacle mounting unit 10. The stationaryouter circular casing or housing 2@ has an L-shaped cross-section, asshown in FIGS. 5 and 6. As will be subsequently described in connectionwith FIG. 8, during installation of the mounting unit 10, housing 2t) isemployed to secure and position the mounting ring 21 at a proper levelin a recess provided in the floor. Mounting ring 21 is preferably formedof a casting with a machined annular upper surface 22 and a machinedcircular wall 23 (FIG. 6), which wall is spaced with a small clearancefrom the inside wall of housing 20 when the lower edge of wall 23 restson the lower inside surface of housing 20. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5,below the surface 22 of mounting ring 21 and on diametrically opposedinside surfaces of wall 23, are cast a pair of bosses 25 and 26. Thesebosses are provided with aligned bores whose center line corresponds tothe axis of rotation of the mount 29. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2,mounting ring 21 has cast thereon a pair of pads 27 and 2S which arelocated to the right of the central plane formed by rotation of themount 29. Pads 27 and 28 are machined to form stopping sursneaeea faces47 and ad, respectively, on the underside of surface 22 of mounting ring2l, as shown in FIGS. 4 and il. The mounting ring 2l is secured withinthe housing 2.0 by four screws 24 which screws extend through fourequally spaced openings provided in annular surface 22 and engagethreaded holes provided in the base of housing 29, as shown in detail inFG. 4.

The cylindrical disc-shaped mount or platform 29 is pivotally supportedin the central aperture formed by mounting ring 2l. This mount 29, asshown in FIG. 6, is comprised of a cast cylindrical body 3d providedwith a circular supporting plate Sib which is secured to one end thereofby screws 32a and B2b, and a circular cover plate Sia which ispreferably formed to be integral with the other end of the body 30.Within cylindrical body 3i?, on diametrically opposed sides'thereof, arebosses 53a and 33b (FIG. 2) which bosses are provided with aligned boreswhose center line corresponds to the axis of rotation of the mount 29.Also within cylindrical body 30, on the opposed sides thereof whichswing about the axis of rotation, are provided bosses 34a and Sdi whichbosses enable latching slots @da and 64b (FlG. 6) to be milled on theouter cylindrical surface of body 3h. As shown in FIG. 3, the supportingplate Sila has a threaded opening in the center thereof in whichelectrical receptacle .t9 is held by threads on hollow shaft 36 whichshaft forms an integral part of the receptacle 19.

As is now clear from FlGS. 2 and 5, upon assembling the mount 29 withinmounting ring 2l the bores in bosses 25 and 26 of mounting ring 21enable respective pins di? and il to be inserted therethrough from theoutside of mounting ring 2i into the aligned bores provided inrespective bosses 33a and 331i of mount 2?. These pins 40 and 4i have apress fit in the respective bores of bosses 25 and 26 of the mountingring, and a free fit in the bores 33a and 33b of the mount 29, to enablethe mount to be pivoted about these pins. Spacers Sti and 51 positionthe disc-like mount 29 concentrically within the circular openingprovided in mounting ring 21. Pin 41 is provided with a longitudinalslot SS along the lower edge thereof which extends to a radial hoie 57directed into the outlet box 11. Slot 55 and hole S7 in pin 4l enablethe lead wires 17 and 18 connected to receptacle 19 to be carried to thejunction box 38. Although lead wires 17 and 1d have been shown anddescribed as only passing through openings in pin lil, it should beunderstood that pin d@ can also be similarly adapted to have lead wirespassed therethrough.

Having described the details of how the mount 29 is supported within themounting ring 21;, an explanation will `next be presented of how themount 2@ is limited in its rotational movement so as to prevent the leadwires 17 and 1S from becoming frayed or entangled when the mount 29 isrotated about its supporting structure many times, as encountered duringprolonged use. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the mount 29 has secured tothe periphery thereoic a stopping pin 67 which pin encounters one of thepads 27 or 2S as the mount 29 with the receptacle thereon is rotated toan upward or downward position. Thus, stopping pin 67 rests on surface47 of pad 27 when the electrical receptacle l@ is in its operatingposition, asV shown in FlG. 4; and when the mount 29 is dipped over, asshown in FIG. 10, the stopping pin 67 now rests on the opposite surface43 of pad 2S. As noted in FIG. 1l, to permit the mount E@ to be rotated,a clearance cut-out must be provided in the lower surface of housing andthe surface lila of outlet box 11.

As shown in detail in FIG. 6, to secure the mount 29 in either its up ordown position, a quarter-turn latch de is firmly secured to move with apin 63 which is positioned to rotate in an opening provided in the uppersurface 22 of mounting ring 21. Head 69 of pin 68 is provided with apair of holes 7i) in which key 7l can be inserted so as to rotate thelatch 66 into the milled slot 64a of the body Sti, to thereby locl;mount 2.9 in position.

Having described the details of the electrical receptacle mounting unitit?, a description will next be given of how the mounting unit isinstalled in a recess provided in the iioor of a room. ri`he outlet boxil is permanently installed in the recess of the floor at the time, forexamA ple, that the concrete is poured to form this door. The topsurface ila of outlet box il is located within rather loose tolerancelimits below the surface of the floor 14. The conduit lo leading out ofbox i1 extends to the source of power through openings provided in thefloor. When the box il. is installed, an enlarged dummy casing orhousing is used to form the opening in which the housing 21? is to beinserted. Housing 2h is positioned over a central opening provided inthe surface lla such that the tips of each of three equally spacedadjusting screws i3, one of which is shown in FIG. 8, can tit intorespective dimples 13a provided on the portion of surface liasurrounding the central opening. These adjusting screws i3 are then usedto accurately position the housing 2t) at the proper level for the floori4 which may have a coveringpsuch as tile or linoleum thereon. The spacebetween the housing 2h and the opening in the concrete is then lled withgrout 45, as shown in FiG. 8, for example. It should now be clear thatwhen mounting ring 2l is inserted in housing 2h, and secured therein byscrews 24, the surface 22 of mounting ring will be flush with thesurface of door 14.'

it should be further noted that the center of the bores in bosses 33uand 33.11 of mount 19 are located midway of the height of the body ofmount Z9, such that, irrespec tive of the up or down position of thismount, its exposed surface is flush with the oor.

From the above it should now be clear that when the receptacle 19 is notin use, the attachment plug 6l is removed and the mount 29 unlocked withkey 71. The mount can then be pivoted such that its underside coverplate Sib is exposed as a flush plate over the recess provided in thefloor 14. This flush plate is sutiiciently strong so that it can bestepped on without injury to the plate or the receptacle. Inasmuch asthe top surface of the housing 21 and the exposed surface of mount 29are liush with each other, and the surface of the floor, the unitprovides a smooth reliable and pleasing construction in which thereceptacle i9 may be easily and quickly made accessible for use whendesired, or concealed in the floor, by merely unlocking the latch do anddipping the mount 29 over. It should be noted that the constructionedectively keeps dirt out of the receptacle and the door box.

From the above description it will be appreciated tha-t there has beenprovided a novel electrical floor mount well adapted for its intendedfunction. Furthermore, while the electrical floor mount has beendescribed in detail, it will be obvious that various changes andmodihcations may be made therein which fall within the spirit of theinvention and it is intended to cover all such modifications, beinglimited in this respect only as may be necessary by the scope of theclaims hereto appended.

What is claimed is:

l. In a oor receptacle mounting unit, a mounting device adapted to besecured in a recess provided in a` door, said device having an annularsurface defining a central aperture; a cylindrical platform whose top orbottom fiat circular surface is capable of substantially covering saidcentral aperture when concentrically positioned therein an electricalreceptacle secured on one surface of said platform, said platformadapted to be rotatably supported within the central aperture of saiddevice such that the top or bottom surface of said platform can bepositioned flush with the annular surface of said mounting devicewhereby said receptacle can be positioned for exposure above the door orconcealment below the surface of the floor; and, means for limiting themovement of said platform to a semi-circular path between the said twopositions.

2. A floor receptacle mount comprising: Ia disc-shaped platform formedof a circular shell provided with a supporting plate as one surfacethereof and a cover plate as the other surface thereof; an electricalreceptacle secured to protrude from the center of the supporting plateof said platform; a mounting ring encircling said platform; a pair ofsupporting pins each secured in a diametrically opposed portion of saidmounting ring, said pins protruding into openings provided indiametrically opposed side portions of said platform such that theplatform is rotatably supported on said pins within said mounting ring;electrical leads extending from the receptacle through aperturesprovided in at least one of said pins; a projecting member extendingfrom a side portion of said platform `and located at substantiallyninety degrees from the rotating axis thereof; and a pair of stoppingpads each located on an opposed portion of the underside of saidmounting ring for engaging said projecting member to arrest the rotationof the platform in said mounting ring in a lirst position in which thesupporting plate of the platform with the receptacle secured thereto isin an upright position; and in a second position in which the coverplate of the platform is in an upright position.

3. An electrical oor mount comprising: a mounting device adapted to besecured in a recess provided in a floor, said device having an annularsurface defining a central aperture; a supporting structure consistingof a pair of stationary pins, each located on diametrically opposedportions beneath the annular surface of Said mounting device andextending into said central aperture; a cylindrical platformconcentrically positioned in said aperture and rotatably mounted on saidpins, whereby said platform may be rotated about an axis locateddiametrically across said aperture; and an electrical receptacle securedto one surface of said platform, said platform being provided with aradially extending pin on the periphery thereof which contacts thebottom of the annular `surface to thereby arrest its rotation Within theaperture of said mounting device when the one surface of the platformcarrying the receptacle is in an upright position, or when the othersurface of the platform is in an upright position.

4. An electrical iloor mount comprising: la mounting device adapted tobe secured in a recess provided in a floor, said device having anexposed annular upper surface defining a circular opening; a supportingstructure including a pair of pins, each located and held ondiametrically opposed portions beneath the annular surface of saidmounting device and extending into said circular opening; a cylindricalplatform pivotally mounted on said pins and capable of covering saidcircular opening when concentrically positioned therein whereby saidplatform may be pivoted about an axis located diametrically across saidcircular opening so as to substantially cover said opening when eitherthe top or bottom surface of said platform is in an exposed positionflush With the exposed annular surface of said mounting device; and anelectrical receptacle secured to protrude from the center of one of thesurfaces of said platform, said cylindrical platform being provided witha radially extending projection on the periphery thereof which contactsthe bottom of the annular surface of the mounting device to therebyarrest the rotation of the platform Within the circular opening of saidmounting device in a first position in which the surface of the platformprovided with a receptacle is in an upright covering positionsubstantially Hush With the exposed annular surface of said mountingdevice, and in ya second position in which the surface of the platformprovided with the receptacle is in a downward position so as to concealthe receptacle in the recess provided in the floor and the other surfaceof the platform is in an upright covering position substantially flushwth the exposed annular surface of said mounting device.

5. A floor receptacle mount comprising: a hollow disc shaped platformprovided with a supporting plate as the top surface thereof and a coverplate as the bottom surface thereof; an electrical receptacle secured toprotrude through the center of one of the plates of said platform; amounting ring encircling said platform; said mounting ring having anupper annular surface; a pair of supporting pins each held in -adiametrically opposed portion beneath the annular surface of saidmounting ring, said pins tted into openings provided in diametricallyopposed side portions of said platform such that the platform ispivotally supported on said pins within said mounting ring; electricalleads extending from the receptacle into the interior of said platformand through an aperture provided in at least one of said pins; a memberextending from a side portion of said platform and located atsubstantially ninety degrees from the pivoting axis thereof; and a pairof stopping pads each located on an opposed portion of said mountingring beneath the annular surface thereof for engaging said member toarrest the rotation of the platform in said mounting ring in a firstposition in which the surface formed by the plate of the platform withthe receptacle secured thereto is substantially flush with the exposedannular surface of said mounting ring, and in ,a second position inwhich the surface formed by the other plate of the platform issubstantially flush with the exposed annular surface of said mountingring.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,928,198 9/33Buchanan 220-3.4 X 2,301,526 11/42 Dupler. 2,866,956 12/58 Miller et al339-34 2,900,101 8/59 Clark 220-3.4 2,936,092 5/ 60 Johnson 220-3.4 X3,001,164 9/61 Pietzsch 339-2 3,081,896 3/63 Haskins 220-3.4

FOREIGN PATENTS 8,3 03 3 3 8 Germany. 456,528 11/ 36 Great Britain.

-TOSEPH D. SEERS, Primary Examiner.

1. IN A FLOOR RECEPTACLE MOUNTING UNIT, A MOUNTING DEVICE ADAPTED TO BESECURED IN A RECESS PROVIDED IN A FLOOR, SAID DEVICE HAVING AN ANNULARSURFACE DEFINING A CENTRAL APERTURE; A CYLINDRICAL PLATFORM WHOSE TOP ORBOTTOM FLAT CIRCULAR SURFACE IS CAPABLE OF SUBSTANTIALLY COVERING SAIDCENTRAL APERTURE WHEN CONCENTRICALLY POSITIONED THEREIN; AN ELECTRICALRECEPTACLE SECURED ON ONE SURFACE OF SAID PLATFORM, SAID PLATFORMADAPTED TO BE ROTATABLY SUPPORTED WITHIN THE CENTRAL APERTURE OF SAIDDEVICE SUCH THAT THE TOP OR BOTTOM SURFACE OF SAID PLATFORM CAN BEPOSITIONED FLUSH WITH THE ANNULAR SURFACE OF SAID MOUNTING DEVICEWHEREBY SAID RECEPTACLE CAN BE POSITIONED FOR EXPOSURE ABOVE THE FLOOROR CONCEALMENT BELOW THE SURFACE OF THE FLOOR; AND, MEANS FOR LIMITINGTHE MOVEMENT OF SAID PLATFORM TO A SEMI-CIRCULAR PATH BETWEEN THE SAIDTWO POSITIONS.